A77360:288
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 3: The New Covenant of Grace opened. SERMON III.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. But then fourthly, Who are the Subjects of this Covenant, and who are the persons that God doth strike or make this Covenant with?
First, This Covenant of Grace is not made or stricken with all the particular men in the world; A New Covenant will I make with the house of Israel, not with all the particular men in the world. If this New Covenant of Grace were made with all the particular men in the world, then all the particular men in the world should have the Law of God written in their hearts, and should all know God, and all have their sins pardoned, for so saith the Covenant, by an absolute promise which must be fulfilled.
And upon this account it follows, that Christ did not dye for every particular man in the world, for Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant; therefore if the New Covenant be not made with every particular man, Christ did not dye for every particular man; but the New Covenant is not made with all the particular men in the world, as you have heard.
2. As this New Covenant is not made with all the particular men in the world, so neither is it made with all that live under the Gospel. Though Ishmael lived in Abraham's house, and so the skirt of the Covenant might be thrown over him, yet in Isaac shall thy Seed be called, saith God. A man may be in a Church, yet not of the Church; as a man may be in a house, and yet not of the house. This Covenant is not made with all particular men that live under the Gospel.